The autonomous car is a driverless vehicle capable of fulfilling the capabilities of a traditional car. As a self driving vehicle, it has the technology and sensors to sense the environment and surrounding objects, using techniques such as radar, lidar, GPS and computer vision, it requires no human input to navigate. For hundreds of years, innovation within the automotive sector has created safer, cleaner and more affordable vehicles, but the progress made has been minimal. The industry now appears close to substantial change via the introduction of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles sense surrounding objects and incoming vehicles using techniques such a radar, GPS and computer vision. Autonomous cars have an opportunity to make ground breaking developments in transportation and change the lives of many people who are deemed unfit to drive. More specifically, the mobility of the elderly, the young and the disabled will increase significantly.
Autonomous cars are due to make an impact in sports racing as well. Chris Gerdes the associate professor of mechanical engineering, senior fellow at the precourt institute for energy and associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University has been working on the possibility of making driverless race cars. He and his team are developing autonomous race cars that can drive at 150 miles per hour while avoiding every possible accident. Furthermore, he would like apply the skills and manoeuvres that professional race car drivers take years to learn, to safety systems within cars.
These self driving vehicles have been making an impact in public transport as well. For three years now, Heathrow's Terminal five has been using driverless pods, to take passengers to and from the parking lot. The pod is like a taxi, you book it to yourself and tell it where to go, directly, without any stops, shaving ten minutes off your travelling time when compared to taking a bus. Computer controlled transport like this is called personal rapid transit (PRT). PRT was conceived in the 1960's, the aim was for it be used in small cities as opposed to airports but developments were very slow and the freedom of movement would prove difficult for the pods due to inner city congestion.
There are a number of safety concerns currently surrounding the use of autonomous vehicles on a large scale. The FBI has already warned that driverless cars can be dangerous, the risk of hacking the vehicle is a possibility, potentially hijacking cars, controlling them remotely and turning them into mules for criminal purposes or even using them as weapons, such as a self driving bomb.
Autonomous cars have an opportunity to make ground breaking developments in transportation and change the lives of many people who are deemed unfit to drive. More specifically, the mobility of the elderly, the young and the disabled will increase significantly.
Autonomous cars are due to make an impact in sports racing as well. Chris Gerdes the associate professor of mechanical engineering, senior fellow at the precourt institute for energy and associate professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University has been working on the possibility of making driverless race cars. He and his team are developing autonomous race cars that can drive at 150 miles per hour while avoiding every possible accident. Furthermore, he would like apply the skills and manoeuvres that professional race car drivers take years to learn, to safety systems within cars.
These self driving vehicles have been making an impact in public transport as well. For three years now, Heathrow's Terminal five has been using driverless pods, to take passengers to and from the parking lot. The pod is like a taxi, you book it to yourself and tell it where to go, directly, without any stops, shaving ten minutes off your travelling time when compared to taking a bus. Computer controlled transport like this is called personal rapid transit (PRT). PRT was conceived in the 1960's, the aim was for it be used in small cities as opposed to airports but developments were very slow and the freedom of movement would prove difficult for the pods due to inner city congestion.
There are a number of safety concerns currently surrounding the use of autonomous vehicles on a large scale. The FBI has already warned that driverless cars can be dangerous, the risk of hacking the vehicle is a possibility, potentially hijacking cars, controlling them remotely and turning them into mules for criminal purposes or even using them as weapons, such as a self driving bomb.